KCS and Peak Engineering lead 8th Grade Tour

Kinney Construction Services (KCS) and Peak Engineering led a tour of the Fort Tuthill construction project for Gretchen Downey's 8th grade classes. KCS worked with one of the classes in the Middle School Institute of Technology and Engineering (MITe) at Sinagua Middle School through the Scientists in the Classroom program founded by Jillian Worssam for the entire 2016-2017 school year. (See previous blog post here.)

KCS management and employees attended Downey's class once each month and walked the engineering students through all the steps of a construction project in a logical progression through the year. Civil engineers Julie Leid and Michael Bechtel from Peak Engineering also presented at one class and assisted on the culminating field trip to Fort Tuthill.

KCS VP of Operations Mike Thomas and Marketing Specialist Katie Colombini (right) quiz students at the Fort Tuthill site, while Peak Engineers Michael Bechtel and Julie Leid check out the on site activity

This project entails extensive improvements to the four-acre Fort Tuthill fairgrounds with the goals of better showcasing the original historic buildings and reinvigorating the space to better suit events and performances on a year-round basis. The scope is based on a detailed Master Plan and includes repairing and replacing failing water and wastewater pipelines, adding trees and landscaping, and creating seating areas and more inviting pedestrian spaces.

Michael Bechtel, Julie Leid, and Mike Thomas show the students the Fort Tuthill improvements in progress

KCS Marketing Specialist Katie Colombini made a quiz on the history of Fort Tuthill: See how well you do! Correct Answers are below the last photo. No Cheating!

1. Fort Tuthill is named after which of the following:
A. A permanent army post located in Arizona.
B. The Pima and Maricopa Indian tribes.
C. General Alexander M. Tuthill.
D. Teddy Roosevelt’s dog.

2. Which of the following statements regarding Fort Tuthill is false:
A. It was constructed in 1929.
B. It was considered one of the finest National Guard training facilities in the U.S.
C. It served as the annual field-training site for the 158th Infantry Regiment Arizona National Guard from 1929 to 1937, again in 1939, and for the last time in 1948.
D. It was once over run with really aggressive squirrels.
E. None of the above – all of the statements are true.

3. The 158th Infantry regiment traces its origin to:
A. The First Regiment of Arizona Volunteers organized in 1865.
B. The Pima and Maricopa Indian tribes
C. The First Arizona Infantry
D. Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders.

4. General Tuthill’s military career began when he:
A. Enlisted in a cavalry troop of the California National Guard.
B. Organized and commanded, as a Captain, the 2nd Cavalry Troop
C. Was promoted to Colonel commanding the 1st Arizona Infantry
D. First started fighting with his brother as a child 

5. The distinctive shoulder patch of the 158th Regimental Combat Team depicting the Bushmaster snake coiled around a jungle machete evolved from:
A. The team’s jungle warfare training experience in Panama in 1941.
B. The captain’s weird obsession with snakes and machetes.
C. The 158th being selected as Honor Guard for President Woodrow Wilson during the Paris Peace Conference.
D. The Regimental Band was also designated as the President's Honor Band.
E. None of the above.

6. The 158th served five and one-half years on active duty and was:
A. Continuously in a combat zone longer then any National Guard unit in all U.S. wars.
B. The first Army unit to be trained in jungle warfare establishing the first Jungle Warfare School.
C. The first Army unit to be sent overseas after Peal Harbor.
D. The organization that traveled further in their 5 ½ years of active duty than any Army unit in any war. 
E. All of the above.
 
7. From 1929 to 1937, again in 1939, and for the last time in 1948 the regiment trained at its permanent field-training site located at which of the following sites:
A. Fort Tuthill outside Flagstaff Arizona.
B. Fort Sill in Oklahoma
C. Camp Barkley in Texas
D. All of the above because the regiment did not have a permanent training site.

8. All of the following statements about General Tuthill are true EXCEPT:
A. In civilian life he was a distinguished and innovative surgeon credited with pioneering the use of foreign material in bone surgery.
B. In the early 1900’s, while chief surgeon for the Detroit Mining Company Hospital in Morenci Arizona, he used silver plates and screws crafted by an Indian silversmith to secure the bones of a badly fractured leg.  He later used a similar silver plate to close a large opening in a patient’s skull. This is believed to be the first recorded use of metal plates in a surgical procedure.
C.  He was a member of Arizona’s Constitutional Convention,
D. On his return from WW I service, he established a private medical practice in Phoenix. 
E. He retired in 1952 at the age of 81.
F.  He served as State superintendent of Public Health from 1921 to 1923,
G. The General’s decorations and awards included the 1st Arizona Medal of Honor ever awarded and the United States Medal for Merit awarded by President Harry S. Truman.
H. None of the above – all of the statements are true.

9. Did you know??  All of the following statements are true EXCEPT:
A. Fort Tuthill Museum attendance has grown by 750% from the 2005 opening to 2016.
B. In 1934 machine gun mounted ferry boats manned by soldiers of the 158th Infantry
patrolled the Colorado River in a dispute with California over water rights.
C. 100% of Fort Tuthill Military Museum's funding is from donations.
D. Fort Tuthill has been visited by every living U.S. President.

Mike Thomas, Gretchen Downey, and Katie Colombini laugh at 8th grade answers!

Answers: 1.c, 2.e, 3.a, 4.a, 5.a, 6.e, 7.a., 8.h, 9.d

Thank you KCS and Peak Engineering for your contributions to the Scientists in the Classroom program! Thank you to Science Foundation Arizona for funding the transportation for this field trip through the SFAZ+8: Building Capacity for STEM Pathways in Rural Arizona grant from the National Science Foundation.